The li'l lion don't fall far from the tree.

The Family Toledo has quickly become the story of the still-infant 2024 championship tour season. A week-ish ago, you certainly don’t need to be reminded, young Filipe put on a performance in the Lexus Pipe Pro opener that was, frankly, shameful. The extremely talented young man refusing to paddle for any real waves due a deep fear. Understandable for you or me. Unacceptable for a two-time world champion. Toledo, of course, has a baked-in reputation for backing out of the scrotum-tightening seas, refusing to post a score in Tahiti, being wildly out-surfed there by two AARPers, though bravely denies any need to prove anything to anyone.

He called in sick with phantom food poisoning minutes after his latest Pipeline embarrassment. A claim that has yet to be corroborated nor even re-mentioned nor halfway defended as li’l Pip was seen drinking a beer in his yard moments after the announcement and, later, playing with paper airplanes.

The fires burned hot though began to cool down, due boredom, until, yesterday, when the senior Toledo took to Instagram in order to excoriate those who dared question his son, declaring professional surfing to be “super taxing.”

“Sometimes we forget that they are human beings, who suffer, get tired, get exhausted, have pain, longing, bad days, and that will not always meet the expectations of the haters on duty, and that will cause so much hate, for simply not meeting the expectations of some,” Ricardo wrote. “I’m sorry, but they’re not machines, it’s a tiring hour, and Filipe is really tired of all that!”

Apparently not satisfied, the Toledo patriarch returned to Instagram Live, minutes ago, in order to declare:

I promised myself I wouldn’t come on here to talk about it anymore, but after today, there are people who need to hear something, and stop thinking they know everything, or have an answer for everything. Most of them, even if they’ve never climbed a board, or understand surfing, others are the “internet technicians”, but they only talk shit, so be ashamed of that guy, and stop talking shit about our athletes, and yes, pass the support in all situations, as we have, MANY do, as I get thousands of support messages on here, and how nice it would be if these haters would learn to be like this too… It’s okay people, and we’ll cheer for the Brazilian team on the tour this year! Strider Wasilewski stop talking shit on live ok!

Minutes later, and demonstrating the family’s legendary brave cowardice, the Strider Wasilewski reference was erased and the comments turned off.

Ok!

But to the meat of Ricardo’s plea, it is wonderful to note he is someone who has never jeered at a sporting spectacle in which he wasn’t completely expert. That he has never sat in front of a soccer (football) game broadcast and stated, with certainty, the ball should have been kicked this way instead of that.

Aspirational to us, the “internet technicians.”